ParalympicsGB has named the 26-strong Para swimming team headed to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games this summer.
The first sport to confirm names for Paris for ParalympicsGB features 15 Games debutants and 11 returning Paralympians – including two reigning champions in the pool from Tokyo 2020, Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney.
A third consecutive Games beckons for multiple Paralympic medallists Stephen Clegg and Rebecca Redfern, while Alice Tai, a gold medallist at Rio 2016, also ranks among the experienced heads lining up within a talented team.
Tokyo Paralympians Ellie Challis, Louise Fiddes, Grace Harvey, Suzanna Hext, Louis Lawlor and Toni Shaw complete the roster of athletes with prior Games experience – with Challis, Fiddes, Harvey and Shaw all having reached the podium three years ago at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games which yielded a phenomenal 26 medals for ParalympicsGB in the pool.
Of the 15 debutants set to write their own chapter of Paralympic history in front of packed stands in Paris, William Ellard, Poppy Maskill and Faye Rogers do so as world champions following their successes at Manchester 2023 – with Rhys Darbey, Scarlett Humphrey, Cameron Vearncombe and Brock Whiston further members of the British team that competed at the home World Championships last summer heading for their first Paralympic Games in 100 days’ time.
Scarlett will be joined in Paris by her identical twin sister Eliza Humphrey where they will be racing against each other in a number of events.
Iona Winnifrith is the youngest member of the swimming cohort selected for Paris 2024, with the 13-year-old having built upon impressive performances at April’s Aquatics GB Swimming Championships at the London Aquatics Centre, by racing to two European titles later last month in Madeira.
Olivia Newman-Baronius, Callie Ann-Warrington, Mark Tompsett and Harry Stewart equally all claimed European titles at their first senior international championships appearance in April, with Bruce Dee and Megan Neave additionally achieving podium finishes in Madeira as they now prepare to compete on the sport’s greatest stage this summer.
“I’m delighted that today, with exactly 100 days to go to this summer’s Paralympic Games, we can celebrate the first athletes to join the ParalympicsGB team for Paris 2024 – our swimming squad,” said ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe.
“Our 26 swimmers represent an exciting mix of youth and experience, and there’s no doubt they all have fantastic potential to make Great Britain proud in Paris this summer.”
A total of around 230 athletes from 19 sports to are expected to make up the British team that will compete in Paris.
To keep up with all the latest ParalympicGB news visit https://paralympics.org.uk/
Pictured from left to right; Scarlett Humphrey, Maisie Summers-Newton and Eliza Humphrey.
Comments